DIY Chalk Calendar

We wanted a place for our family calendar, something durable and big enough for all of our “plans”. Organization is not one of my gifts, I struggle to organize our schedule and our bills! Over our sink we added a chalkboard calendar to help us organize all of our daily events and activities. I love having a large and easily erased calendar – and can’t wait to say goodbye to the stacks of paper/filing – thanks Manilla for sponsoring this post!

Supplies we needed to make our Chalkboard Calendar:

Quarter Inch Thick Board. You can pass on this if you don’t mind having the Calendar as a permanent fixture. I wasn’t sure if I would get tired of it so we screwed a board onto the wall (So I won’t have to re-texture the walls if I change my mind). .

Wood for framing – we used scraps of molding.

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Chalkboard Paint – Rustoleum was the brand we used and we had it tinted to be green, but it comes in a variety of colors.

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Frog Tape – the fancy painter’s tape. This stuff is great, it does not bleed like regular painter’s tape. Great for detail work.

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Another shade of acyrillic or latex paint (not Chalkboard) – we picked a brighter green to frame our “days”.

To make your calendar you need to first paint several coats of the chalkboard paint. I think we did at least 4 coats, maybe 5. Each time you paint the chalkboard paint you want to paint in a different direction, this way you won’t have streaks to try and draw over. After that cured for a day, we got out the painters tape and boxed our “days”. After you’ve painted your calendar, you need to color over the entire project with chalk and then erase to get the “chalkboard” look. . We found that pastels are more brilliant to write with and over at Tip Junkie, there is a recipe on how to create your very own chalkboard paint from paint that you might have on hand. Brilliant!

. Now if only I could find a way to organize all my bills! Seriously, this pile is bills that have yet to be sorted. Sorting is one of my least favorite things to do! Manilla, this month’s blog sponsor, has a centralized online system that helps us manage our household bills, financial accounts, subscriptions, etc., in one secure, online place. Oh, and did I tell you, It’s Free!! I’m doing a happy dance – and am researching the program to see if it helps document other things like contracts and blogging junk… I would be an accountant’s nightmare – hopefully, Manilla can help.